• Gavin Newsom alleges Fox News defamed him by misrepresenting a call with Trump.
• He asked for $787 million in damages, echoing the amount Fox News paid to settle Dominion’s lawsuit.
• Newsom’s lawsuit also cites a defamation suit Trump filed against CBS.

Newsom alleges Fox News defamed him by calling him a liar when he denied speaking with President Donald Trump on June 9.

Around that time, Trump had sent National Guard troops to Los Angeles over Newsom’s objections. Demonstrators had held protests around the city in opposition to the president’s immigration policies.

At a press conference on June 10, Trump said he spoke to Newsom “a day ago.”

In fact, Newsom says, they spoke for 16 minutes around midnight on June 7 Eastern time (or June 6 Pacific time), the day Trump first sent the troops.

Newsom posted phone records on social media showing the timing of their call. But his lawsuit says Fox News host John Roberts misled readers about the timing in his own social media posts, anyway. The lawsuit also says Jesse Watters, a Fox opinion host, falsely called him a liar.

“Why would Newsom lie and claim Trump never called him? Why would he do that?” Watters said, according to the suit.

The chyron on the screen at the time read “Gavin lied about Trump’s call,” the lawsuit says.

Gavin Newsom demanded $787M from Fox News in his defamation lawsuit. The number isn’t a coincidence.

The California governor’s lawsuit against Fox News cites its settlement with Dominion, as well as Donald Trump’s case against CBS.

https://www.businessinsider.com/gavin-newsom-lawsuit-fox-news-cites-dominion-trump-2025-6